Piano Sonatas

Already in 1993, eda records released the much acclaimed world premiere recording of Viktor Ullmann’s  piano sonatas nos. 1 through 4, performed by pianist Edith Kraus, a survivor of the Ghetto Theresienstadt, who had there given the premiere performance of Ullmann’s 6th sonata in 1943. Edith Kraus, who died in 2013 at the age of one hundred years and to the memory of whom this recording is dedicated, wasn’t able, due to reasons of health, to complete her recording of Ullmann’s sonatas with the nos. 5 through 7. Twenty years later, eda records releases a two CD set including the complete sonatas by Vikor Ullmann together with sonatas by Norbert von Hannenheim, performed by the young Moritz Ernst.

In the 20th century, if often suffices to know a person’s date of birth in order to get an idea of his experiences and his fate. 1898, Viktor Ullmann’s and Norbert von Hannenheim’s year of birth, means: witnessing World War I during the formative years of late adolescence; attempting to establish oneself during the Twenties  - a time that was hardly “golden”, but rather downright chaotic – and eventually, after 1933, living through increasing darkness and danger of death; a time in which boundaries dissolve, all identities become indeterminate and solid points of reference seem no longer to exist; a time in which the alert “I” is subjected to severe psychological strain. The piano sonatas by Ullmann and Hannenheim bear witness to their faith in a high purpose of artistic endeavor. They demonstrate vitality through their power of form, wrested from the most adverse of conditions. This is what makes us appreciate and honor this music especially today.

The arrangement of this recording’s sonatas was chosen in order to ensure a varied listening experience and to bring some facets of Ullmann’s and Hannenheim’s compositional craftsmanship into prominence. The presentation of the sonatas in alternating order highlights the contrasting personal idiosyncrasies of the two composers.